Timing of College Enrollment and Family Formation Decisions

The level of progression of an individual’s educational or labor market career is a potentially
important factor for family formation decisions. We address this issue by considering the
effects of a particular college admission system on family formation. We show that the
admission system affects mainly the timing of college enrollment and not the college-going
decision. As such, we consider a specific type of career interruption and its consequences for
relationship formation and fertility decisions. Specifically, we employ a regression
discontinuity design based on the college admission system to estimate the effect of being
above the admission requirement in the year of application on later family formation
decisions. We find that the admission system has substantial effects on the timing of family
formation and, specifically, that the timing of college enrollment is an important determinant
hereof. This suggests that career interruptions such as delays in the educational system can
have large effects on family decision-making.